Uncategorized – Page 2 – Kristian Beverly

In Which I Find My Throne

December 20, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian Beverly2 Comments

A week after Breyerfest, I boarded the train in Harrisburg to NYC. I love flying, but traveling by train has become a very close second in terms of my favorite modes of travel. When book events are out of driving range, a train is the ideal replacement. You can check a bunch of luggage and have numerous carry ons for free. I’d love to travel to a model horse show by train one day. Anyyyywayssss.

This was my second trip to NYC for the summer. The first trip was book related and this final trip was too.

This was for the RWA conference, or Romance Writers of America conference. Instead of BookExpo, where I went solely as an industry person, I went to this event as a hybrid–industry person and writer. Every other year RWA conference is located on the East Coast and I didn’t want to miss it since it was 3 1/2 hours away. Plus it’s my second year of membership and figured this was the perfect way to be more involved.

I stayed at the Marquitt on Time Square. It was amazing.

Before the start of the conference, I wandered around Times Square.

As we signed in I noticed this. Michelle was Bookseller of the Year so I made her take picture with her face.

And then it began.

RWA is about craft, industry people, and books.
There were many many book signings. In these book signings you didn’t need to bring a single book with you. The authors had a set amount of books to be given away by their publishers or themselves, if the author was indie.

I went to many signings. Imagine the NPOD, but with books in a smaller space.

I met awesome authors, and told people to come to Pennsylvania to do signings.

I belong to the local chapter of RWA, and many chapter members also attended RWA. When we could we ate dinner together. We ate a lot at this restaurant.

It was wonderful and the cheesecake was to die for.

Michelle’s friend gave us tickets to see Frankie and Johnny. I had no idea about what it was about going in. It wasn’t bad, but I feel as if I wasn’t the target age.

Then we had a chance to see Wicked. I read the novel years ago and had been told for forever that the play was amazing.

Before getting seats, we found police horses.

I found my throne.

Wicked was spectacular. It was visually stunning, the singing was beautiful, and just everything. I loved it more than the book by far. Not that there was anything wrong with the book, but it just worked so well as a play.

When the conference was over, I took a loot photo.

And then it was time to lug everything home. I enjoyed the conference, and hopefully I can make it when it’s on the east coast again!

Police Horse

December 19, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian Beverly2 Comments

One of the coolest parts about Breyerfest is the wide variety of exhibits within the Kentucky Horse Park. This year I wandered into the Mounted Police Barn.

I’ve wanted to make a police horse tack set for a long time, but getting good consistent reference photos can be hard!

I tried to take a lot of pictures from different angles.

The game of being a tack maker is reference photos. Hopefully these help!

ABA Children's Institute

December 18, 2019December 28, 2024Kristian BeverlyLeave a comment

The whole reason for our traveling was to attend the ABA (American Bookseller’s Association) Children’s Institute. It was all about Children’s Bookselling and the importance of literacy.

There were panels and lots of book signings.

It began with an icebreaker, and attendees could dress up as their favorite characters. I dressed up as Jane from Dread Nation!

A little boy won the contest and some of the Real Adults around me whispered that the boy didn’t realize who’d given him the prize. I had no idea who the judge was and said so.

It was Henry Winkler and I will never live it down.

The next night began a huge book signing. At these signings publishers give out advanced reader copies, which are books that have not come out yet but are made available to generate buzz.

I told my mom that Henry Winkler was at the conference and she said to get something signed by him for her. I did one better. Not only did I get his book signed to her, I took a picture with him. He was very nice.

I watched Ann Patchett speak. She signed a copy of her picture book, Lambslide.

I also watched James Patterson.

On Saturday night, Scholastics had a party with themed food and more books.

This was a highlight. I loved The Hunger Games.

I met Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s daughter.

I really enjoyed this conference. It was nice to meet booksellers from all over the world and to catch up with friends!

Some of the advanced reader copies and books that followed me home. Thank god we drove instead of flew or some other means of travel. We had a lot of books to bring home.